An inquiry as to the policy of limited liability in partnerships

Abstract

In obedience to the request with which you have honored me, that I should "enquire and report on the laws of foreign countries with respect to partnerships of limited liability, and on the policy of allowing the general formation of such partnerships in the United Kingdom;'' I have enquired into the matter so referred to me, and now lay before you the following Report as the result of that inquiry, and of the best consideration I have been able to give the subject. But I desire here to state that, from its extent and importance to all classes, and the value of the several topics bearing upon it, this subject would require and well repay a more searching enquiry, than the time or materials within my reach enabled me in this instance to make. A clear exposition of the English law seems to me to be stated in Smith's Mercantile Law : ? " According to the law of England, whenever two or more persons agree to combine property or labour, for the purpose of a common undertaking and the acquisition of a common profit, a partnership is considered to exist; any participation in profits will constitute a person receiving it a partner."